Another New Author for a Holiday Book

 Single All the Way by Portia MacIntosh 

This was cute but also a bit of a disaster. The secondhand embarrassment was very real for a lot of this book. I do love a fake relationship that turns into a real relationship which this had. Rex is a stupid name, but I forgive him for that. So, Dani starts the book working for Tom who is her ex boyfriend. And he can't fire her for being his ex, which nobody in the office knew, so he demotes her. Enter Rex. He is trying to empress the new girl, who works in fashion, but it's not working and so he pretends to be dating Dani. Now they have to fake date which has a two fold benefit, first is makes the new girl super interested in Rex and two it makes Tom jealous. But, while fake dating it makes Rex realize that the girl he was into isn't actually worth being interested in because she was willing to break up a relationship because she only wanted him when he was unavailable. So, Dani goes home to visit her parents for Christmas and Rex is headed in the same direction to open up the new office up north. Only, her parents don't know she's coming so they go to France. And he gets stranded in town but doesn't tell her. She reconnects with old friends, including her teenage crush, Ben. She tells the whole town her family knows and have given her permission to host a party while they are gone. Except Ben knows the truth and eventually confronts her about it. They fight. She has already realized she doesn't still have feelings for him because she actually likes Rex. She realizes that Rex is stuck in town and goes to the B&B and finds him and brings him to her parents house. Her parents come home on Christmas and meet him then see the aftermath of the party. Fast forward one year and they are still together; she is hosting another party but bigger and his parents fly in to meet her and it goes wonderfully. It was cute with just enough drama to keep it interesting but not so much that it takes away from being a Christmas story.